Tuesday, January 29, 2013

How do you “do” Sabbath? Rabbi Abraham
Heschel wrote, “The Sabbath itself is a sanctuary which we build, a sanctuary
in time.” How do you build this sanctuary in time? What are the elements? Which
ones already exist in your life? For a Sabbath day, take these steps whole; for
Sabbath mornings or lunch times, take them in smaller bits. You decide. This is
all about freedom. We are free to discern what rest means for us.

In that
spirit, I offer these Seven Sabbath Practices:

I.Tailor-made. These Sabbaths have to be cut
for you. If you’re sedentary all day, maybe it’s taking a day of biking or
tennis. If you’re duking it out in the courtroom, maybe it’s silence in a park.
For busy parents of young children, it may mean spending time with adults. And
if it’s hard to free a day or a time for rest, find a friend for the kids, use
your personal days. Whatever you do, just take a break.

II.All of you—body, mind, soul, and spirit. You can take Sabbath walks, lounge in your bed late on Saturday
mornings, and savor Sabbath meals with friends. (Spouses, it’s a wonderful fact that the
tradition of Sabbath includes sexual intimacy.)

III.… but especially,feed thy
soul. Our culture is not very attuned to the
spiritual life. I return to Heschel who wrote that it only takes three things
to create a sense of significant being: God, a soul and a moment. The three are
always present. This little word No has the power to bring the three together.

IV.No obligations, some time each day and one day each week. No mopping, no cooking, no paying bills, no moving the lawn, no
fixing the house, nor even thinking about work and the office. Through it all,
let your mind rest from obligations regularly each day.

In my book, this is time for Greg and for
God. Time for body and soul. Fridays (because Sundays are work days for me) I take the entire day off. Except in rare
emergencies, I don’t accomplish any work. In the morning, I savor an extended
workout, generous time for journaling, reflection, prayer, and study. I walk in
Upper Park with Laura. Sabbaths are days where I don’t have any duties, and
everything’s based on freedom. I even remove my watch and put my iPhone aside so that it no longer
breaks my day into disconnected units or distractions.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

My contention is that we too often hear about the problems
of Chico State and Butte College students. Too much alcohol, violence, and
sexual promiscuity. All these selfishness, spoiled college students who don't
care enough for others.

Sometimes called "The Theology of the Hammer"

I’m
thankful I get to prove this charge wrong every January when I travel with a
group of 30 or 40 students and advisors—including, by the way, Chico State
professors—and we build houses for poor farm workers in Baja California.

The team
travels down as part of a mission trip from Bidwell Presbyterian, partnering
with Youth With a Mission, housed at Richardson Springs. We build simple 20’ x
22’ wood houses that cost an unimaginable $3600… unimaginable for those workers
many of whom pick strawberries in this area and who make about $8.50 (or 100
pesos) a day. Essentially we’re responding to Jesus’s words, especially his
declaration that his own mission (according to Gospel of Luke) was to “announce
good news to the poor.”

Constructing
those houses is very good news indeed. I’m thinking, for example of a single
mother, Yannette, whose husband ran off and left her with two kids, one of whom
is autistic. Having finished construction, our team of 11 twenty-somethings and
me stood in a circle in the dirt in front of her new house and handed her keys.

The sun was gradually setting, and
as dusk fell, she even told us God had spoken to her in a dream in which “soldiers”
would come to provide for her. Not on that, but that we were her soldiers. Frankly, that was unusual, but I’ve been
around the church enough to know these visions can be accurate. Then she added
that we would have the strength of buffaloes. Even a bit stranger, but powerful
and poignant. She opened the front door, and we all walked in. By the light of
my cell phone, we unveiled a new bunk bed for her kids. They laughed—in and
amongst the tears—laughed with disbelief that this was coming true.

I’m not
sure it was buffalo strength, but I did see these students rise to the
occasion. I saw them at their best—serving without rancor, cooperating with one
another, finding the joy in doing something really worthwhile for someone else.
If I’ve got one thing I want young adults to learn as they form their values
and character, it’s that we are made to give. And when we give—when we say yes
to serving—we find how God created us. And there we find happiness. There we
find life at its best.

As I was flying
from San Diego to Sacramento on one of these trips, I got into a conversation
with a TV newscaster (a Chico State grad herself) who asked me why all these
college students were on the plane. I told her that these students had just
built houses for the poor in the Mexico. She became quite excited and told me,
“You’ve got to get that story out!”

I suppose
that’s what I’m doing now. If I see the newscaster again, I’ll tell her I’m
doing what I can to let people know that there’s a lot more to Chico’s college
life than binge drinking, violence, and generally selfish hedonism…. I’ll even add
the part about buffalo strength.

Sunday, January 06, 2013

Get away
with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.

Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it.

Learn the unforced rhythms of
grace.

I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

Keep company with me
and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.

Matthew 11:28-30, The Message

Grooving—that’s life at its best. That’s what
musicians—and especially drummers—describe as that moment when you’re feeling
the rhythm so deeply that you’re almost obligated to stay in it. Not too fast,
nor too slow. You’re “in the groove.” You’re feeling “the unforced rhythms of
grace.” (I love that paraphrase!) It’s the result of hearing the yeses, testing
them, and then finding the right rhythm of yes and no, of notes and spaces. (You can see my video about
this rhythm here.)

When the 16th century master artist, Leonardo
da Vinci, was working on The Last Supper, he would without warning take
a break.The prior of Santa Maria delle
Grazie was not amused and entreated Leonardo with tiresome persistence to
complete the work.The prior complained
to the Duke who questioned Leonardo about his working habits. Leonardo, we are
told, persuaded the duke that “the greatest geniuses sometimes accomplish more
when they work less.”

Some like to describe this optimal state of
life as balance. And that description works ok, if it implies the right mixture
of activities that promote the good life. The problem with balance—or “the
balanced life”—is that it sounds as if living well is to find some equipoise
between equal parts of two different things, like relaxation and work.

I prefer describing life at its best as rhythm
because it’s dynamic. Balance remains essentially a vision of things staying
there on a scale. Balance is a teeter-totter that’s horizontal to the earth. It
just stands there. A great rhythm, on the other hand, has movement and
dynamism. It integrates a variety of different inputs. Some snare drum there,
mixing with a thumping bass and spiced with a shaker, a tambourine, or some
conga.

The key then is good rhythm among all the
calls in life. Conversely, it’s not really work/life “balance” because I’m
saying that all these three major areas in the triangle—personal life, work,
and love—need to play off one another to create a rhythmic beauty.

Rhythm—and this is the most important part
and the one that’s often missed—has that expert relationship between sound and
silence. To keep making noise is just that: noise. But a good rhythm has notes
and spaces, and that’s what makes it work. And even more than work, that’s what
makes it interesting and sometimes scintillating.

The Bible also describes these moments of
refreshing, of returning to God in the midst of heavy activity and even strife.
One of my favorite verses finds its way into the prophecies of Isaiah:

In returning and rest you
shall be saved;

In quietness and trust
shall be your strength.

(Isaiah 30:15)

This prophecy came to the people of Israel at
a time of war and therefore great social stress. They needed to hear about the
rhythm of working hard and of returning to God. Their strength would arise when
they rested. The yes to work came out of the no-work of rest. Tellingly, they
did not take up the offer because the next line reads, “But you refused.” Will
you and I resist God’s call to work and rest?

We need to listen to the call to return and
rest. And in this rest and returning, we practice the right rhythm of yes and
no.